Iain Gray Freelance Writer

Saw movies scarier than The Exorcist?

The ‘Saw’ horror films have been voted scarier than the horror classic The Exorcist.

The series, which has just spawned its fourth film, tells the story of an evil torturer who puts his victims through a set of horrific moral and physical trials to see if they have the will or the wit to survive.

In one sequence, a man must cut the key to a booby trap from behind his eye with a scalpel before he is killed.

At this present time, the series sits at the top of the poll for MSN Movies, garnering 17pc of the votes over the Exorcist’s 16pc.

The Exorcist, made in 1973, tells the tale of a young girl possessed by a demon. It remains notorious today for its blasphemy, visceral horror and depiction of a child swearing and performing a sex act with a crucifix.

The Shining is currently in third place with 14%.

The serial killer Dr Hannibal Lecter, played by Anthony Hopkins in The Silence of the Lambs, looks like being voted the favourite horror villain, with 33pc of the vote. The Xenomorph from Alien is in second place.

However the films have been reversed in the category of favourite horror hero, with Ellen Ripley, the gutsy heroine from Alien played by Sigourney Weaver, beating off Jodie Foster’s rookie FBI Agent Clarice Starling from The Silence of the Lambs.